AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #13

Christmas with Peace On Earth & Ornamental Christmas 

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and our last Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025. We have been sharing Christmas inspiration each Monday evening until tonight, 24th of November. How can Christmas be a month away?

I created 2 cards to share with you tonight, however, now have little time for the blog write-up so it will be brief tonight. The designs for both cards came to mind as I was creating something else so am delighted to share them with you here.

CARD 1

This card is built from the Peaceful Garden Suite, including the Peaceful Days Sticker Sheet and the stamp set. The Sticker Sheet was created for scrapbooking but the stickers can also be used for card-making too.

A panel of embossed Peaceful Garden Designer Series Paper was adhered to a Cloud Cover card-stock base.  The panel had been embossed with the Traditional Wreath 3D Embossing Folder and a Basic White Label was die cut using the Branching out dies.

The sentiment came from the Peace On Earth stamp set and was white heat embossed on Secret Sea card-stock. A tree from the Ornamental Christmas stamps was used on the accompanying envelope.

Two of the trees from the Peaceful Days sticker sheet were used on the card front. Some of the beautiful silver Drusy Adhesive-Backed Embellishments were scattered and a little Cloud Cover splattering.

The beautiful Cloud Cover ribbon was tied around the card front near the card fold, ending in a bow. As mentioned, some trees were stamped onto a Basic White C6 Envelope in Cloud Cover Classic ink.

CARD 2

The gorgeous Modern Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper includes a sheet packed full of Gold baubles. A number of baubles were fussy cut and then coloured with Classic inks and Mini Blending Brushes.

One of the "B" side designs from the Peaceful Garden DSP was dry embossed with the Soft Waves 3D Embossing folder before being adhered to a Cloud Cover card-stock base. A little White Craft ink was blended in the centre to give a sense of light & dark.

The coloured baubles were arranged and most were popped up on Dimensionals. A Basic Black Journalling Pen drew the strings to hang the baubles.

The sentiment came from the Ornamental Christmas stamp set. It was white heat embossed onto Secret Sea card-stock and then fussy cut. A bow of Black & Gold twine was tucked under the sentiment. The final touch was a sprinkling of gold Drusy Adhesive-Backed Embellishments. 

Some of the same Peaceful Garden DSP was added to the envelope flap to coordinate with the card. A couple of extra baubles were added inside the card.

Thank you so much for dropping in tonight and across the last few months for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. I so appreciate your time with me. I hope you enjoy a blessed Christmas.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with this blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Kate Morgan. I always look forward to checking out Kate’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to also check in on us for our hop over on Instagram for more creative inspiration. My Instagram Handle is @andreaksargent. 

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  Check out her delightful creation while you are there.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2025-2026 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December 2025 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact regarding any queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2025 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #artisandesignteam  #artisandesignteam2025  #peaceonearth  #ornamentalchristmas

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop # 1

Christmas with the Modern Christmas suite

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the first Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025. We will be sharing Christmas inspiration each Monday evening until the end of November. I do hope you will check us out as often as you can.

I had another Christmas card in mind for this blog hop but as I was getting ready to create my plan changed to using different products (most were already on my desk) and an idea I have wanted to create for quite a while. Here is what developed.

If you saw my CASEing the Catty project that was shared last night you may recognise the same Modern Christmas Designer Series Paper, although this card uses different designs. While writing up the blog I have decided to remove the gold ribbon that spans across this card. I think it doesn’t work so well with the double line across the middle. What do you think???

The background panel came from a ‘B’ side of the Modern Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper. The letters were cut with the Party Alphabet dies from the White speciality Snowflake paper. This doesn’t show well in the photos but adds some extra texture in real life. The bauble was cut using the Ornamental Christmas dies and the trees were fussy cut from one of the designs of the Modern Christmas SDSP.

A sentiment from the Traditional Labels stamp set was white heat embossed on Basic Black card-stock. It was then fussy cut leaving behind the word ‘joy’ as the letters and bauble spell ‘JOY’.

The bow was created with … which is available in the LAST CHANCE section @stampinupofficial . Some gold Drewsy … were added to give some extra shimmer.

Trees from the Ornamental Christmas stamps and another sentiment from the Traditional Labels stamp set were stamped to decorate inside the card, A C6 Basic White envelope was also stamped with the trees. 

Thanks so much for calling in on your way around the first Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with this blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Judy May. I always look forward to checking out Judy’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is so much Christmas inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations InstaHop that goes live every Wednesday night on Instagram, where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants in this week’s Hop go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  Check out her delightful creation while you are there. I wonder if it will be a fancy fold? Sharon is the queen of Fancy Folds.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2025-2026 Annual Catalogue and or the new September-December 2025 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact regarding any queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2025 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #artisandesignteam  #artisandesignteam2025

CASEing the Catty #535 - CASE the Annual Catalogue

CASE Stampin’ Up!s Annual Catalogue meets Ornamental Christmas

Hello, welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea & #535 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Monique Fielder, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Peta Stephen so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from Stampin' Up! Catalogues & On line Exclusives as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the projects found in the 2025-2026 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

I am CASEing one of the cards on page 40 that has been created to showcase the Florals in Bloom Suite. I love the layout of the card at the top of the page and also the lateral use of one of the wonderful Party Banner dies. CASEing those aspects I have used parts of the Modern Christmas suite (a soon to be released On-line Exclusive) together with the Words for the Season bundle (from the coming September-December Mini Catalogue).

While I have been someone who uses very little Black in my projects I am really taken with the Modern Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper. It is luscious and striking featuring Basic Black, Basic White & Gold. The stunning gold stars on a black background design was used as the background for this card. 

The trees were stamped and die-cut using the Ornamental Christmas bundle. One of the techniques used was heat embossing on speciality papers, that is on Gold Foil and the gorgeous  Secret Sea Peaceful Garden Glimmer Paper. I hadn’t stamped on this type of speciality paper previously so was excited to see the results. It opens up new horizons.

A panel of Thick Basic White card-stock was cut with a Party Banner die. I do like to use this card-stock when I am going to pop it up on Dimensionals. The two black trees were adhered directly to the banner where-as the gold and white tree was also popped on Dimensionals. A section of Gold Foil was adhered to part of an Adhesive Foam Sheet before being die cut with a die from the Words for the Season dies. The word “Greetings” was white heat embossed onto Basic Black card-stock and cut with a die from the same set of dies. This was popped on Mini Dimensionals - they are the perfect size.

Final touches included some Basic Black splattering, a double bow using the Black & Gold Twine from the Modern Christmas suite. A number of Black Shimmer Star Foam Stickers were strewn around.

The inside of the card was stamped with trees from the Ornamental Christmas stamp set and the sentiment is from the Words for the Season stamps. A Basic White C6 envelope was also stamped with the same trees.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around the CASEing the Catty Blog Hop for Challenge #535. I do so appreciate it.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the lovely Peta Stephen and Marvi. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created for this Challenge which has been inspired by the current Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.

 

#ctc535 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #modernchristmas  #wordsfortheseason #ornamentalchristmas  #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam